Ponds is honestly one of my favorites in this class. Yes, he’s small, but he plays ferocious and just makes plays. I’d be very upset if Seattle ended up with him.
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Ponds is honestly one of my favorites in this class. Yes, he’s small, but he plays ferocious and just makes plays. I’d be very upset if Seattle ended up with him.
We'll see what teams think. But the real truth ends up being in how the players translate when you look back on the draft a few years from now.
For example you can say X or Y is the slam dunk prize from his group, and then some team takes that player first and maybe you feel like a big victory lap is in order. But if that prospect busts hard it just means the team made the same mistake you made.
methomas50
Pro Bowler
methomas50
Pro Bowler
Certainly not surprising when actual NFL scouts like prospects better than media talking heads. Supposedly Keldrick Faulk is liked better by NFL personnel types than the media. We shall see.
I like Ponds a lot, but one big concern I have is with how grabby he is. In college, it allowed him to compensate for his small stature, but the NFL refs do not let CBs get away with it to anywhere near the degree they do in college.
Brazzell does have fluid hips for his size. That's promising. But he's not a good route runner. That can potentially change with time, coaching, and development. But the player has to be willing to dedicate himself to the craft and has to have the football IQ to master the intricacies. Can Brazzell do that? I don't know. He's a risk/reward guy. A lot of upside, but you could easily end up with a one trick pony.
And Tenn is known for not being a great teacher of route excellence. That stigma is real.
I'm straight leery of him just due to that orange T on his helmet.
I did not see that with Ponds, but I did not isolate on him either or watched every game he played. Now, Davison Igbinosun is another story, even though he improved this year. In 2025 Ponds was not penalized for defensive holding, so not sure were you are getting the info.
Based on available scouting reports and performance data, Indiana cornerback D'Angelo Ponds was noted for his discipline and did not have a significant issue with defensive holding penalties. One report specifically highlights that he was disciplined in 2025, committing just one total penalty over the course of the season.
WestCoastRam
Legend
From what I understand, in the Heupel system, WR's basically run deep choice routes, come backs, gos, and posts.
So a lot of these kids haven't had 2-3 years of route running practice outside of those. Sure, there's a lot of college WR's that don't run a full route tree coming into the NFL or have raw route skills but the Tenn system probably has the least amount of route choice in their offense and doesn't seem like they put a premium on teaching things like leverage and release technique.
Can anyone recall a WR that's succeeded in the NFL from there since Heupel was the coach?
WestCoastRam
Legend
Feels like that's a thing that happens to smaller corners, very grabby in college. That was Tre Tomlinson's issue.
Ponds is far superior to Tomlinson plus I did not see any of that from Ponds and he was not called for defensive holding last year.
That he wasnt called for it last year is the point. In the NFL playing the way he does gets flags.
I read on here from several that he doesn't run good routes. I'm not seeing that.
Watch the videos above of him covering Denzel Boston. He has hands on him throughout the two routes they show.
None from Tennessee so far. The only successful one going back to Heupel's time as an OC at Missouri is Gabe Davis from UCF, who had some decent to good years in Buffalo (before becoming a FA bust in Jacksonville). Doesn't mean Brazzell won't be successful. He's his own player, but it is a legitimate concern.
He runs a limited route tree, and even in that limited route tree, his footwork is all over the place and he sometimes drifts on his routes. You can get away with that against college CBs and in a college passing attack, but it's much harder to do in the NFL when the timing and execution of the play hinge on your footwork and route depth.
I personally believe that Brazzell will become a legit NFL receiver however I do not want to see the Rams use the 13th pick on him, he needs some NFL coaching and learning behind players like Nacua and Adams would also help a lot. I would not mind seeing the Rams selecting him after a trade down somewhere in the twenties while picking up an additional 3rd round pick.
Boston's a tough draw. He's a beast. I think that approach was required to some extent for Ponds to compete.